Micah Howard enjoys an enriching career as both a performer and educator. He joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1996 at the age of 25. As a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, he has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and North America. Mr. Howard regularly performs as a recitalist and chamber musician and has been featured as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
A dedicated teacher for more than twenty-five years, Mr. Howard has helped students pursue a wide range of successful and fulfilling careers in music. His former students have gone on to careers as orchestral musicians, military band members, university professors, public-school educators, arts administrators, composers, entrepreneurs, and private teachers throughout the United States and abroad. Many perform with major orchestras, serve as substitute musicians with leading ensembles, and maintain active freelance careers. Mr. Howard taught string bass as adjunct faculty at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University from 2000 to 2006 and at Duquesne University from 2006 to 2014. He currently serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Double Bass at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2010, Mr. Howard received the Outstanding String Teacher Award from the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association in recognition of his contributions to string education and the profession.
As a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Howard has served on several committees. Most notably, he was a member of the orchestra’s core audition committee for five years, serving as chair for two of those years. During that time, he played a role in hiring more than twenty full-time and substitute musicians. He also helped develop a new audition process adopted by the orchestra in 2005. In addition, he has served on both the Orchestra Committee and the Artistic Committee.
Mr. Howard is also active within the broader double bass community. He has organized several double bass symposiums in Youngstown, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bringing together prominent bassists from around the country to perform recitals, present lectures, and teach masterclasses. He has served as a contributing writer for Bass World Magazine and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra for many years.
Mr. Howard received his Bachelor of Music degree from Youngstown State University and his Master of Music degree from the Duquesne University School of Music. His teachers include Tony Leonardi, Rodney Van Sickle, Edward Pales, Peter Paul Adamiak, and Jeffrey Turner. In 1995, he won first prize in the International Society of Bassists Orchestral Competition.
Micah B Howard 